The Lighthouse
by Iridescent Wings Of An Angel
Summary: Anna's life is turned upside down when she moves into the old Malone Manor and mysterious disappearances start to plague her small town. The town's residents just seem to up and disappear, but how exactly? With a little help from Kathleen Malone's diary, Anna might just be able to solve this mystery.
1. Chapter 1

The Lighthouse

It was late October. A harsh north wind blew luring monstrous waves into the harbor. The sandstone cliffs that bordered the bay were continuously assaulted by the large waves. The lighthouse in the distance was threatening to plunge beneath the deep stirring waters below. There was an eerie mist that shrouded the surrounding area. Every inch of the old Malone Manor creaked in the building winds and growing thunder. The rain pelted the windows as the lightning clapped. The house shook under the oppression of the thunder.

The flames of the candle danced into the air as Anna sat listening to the rain fall outside. The power had gone out almost an hour ago, and the storm showed no signs of abating. The candlelight cast countless shadows throughout the dimly lit room. Anna's kitten purred as it slumbered soundly on its perch.. Anna sat at her window seat, watching the waves crash into the sea cliffs. Her hair danced around her face as she gazed out at the old lighthouse on the rocky peninsula. The beacon clumsily rotated its ominous light about the mainland. The lighthouse had been built in the late nineteenth century and never worked quite right. The light would travel around one full revolution at a monotonous pace, but then as it rounded its second rotation, the light would falter, hesitate, back up slightly, and then continue forward smoothly. She was surprised to see the silhouette of the lighthouse attendant against the light.

"That darn fool," Anna murmured under her breath.  
An unusually strong clap of thunder broke Anna out of her musing and started the poor kitten causing it to topple over the candle, and the flame nipped at the adjacent wall. Faster than she could believe, the fire crept up the wall, consuming everything in its path. The inferno singed the wallpaper and ate away at the drywall while Anna ran for her fire extinguisher.

After struggling to put out the blazing flames, Anna stood breathing heavily in the dark. Lightning flashed, and she glimpsed the damage the fire had wrought. She mumbled something under her breath.

The fire had singed a large amount of the wall. Flakes of charred wallpaper littered the floor. Another terrible roar of thunder shook the manor. The tremors caused a large section of the charred drywall to fall onto the awaiting floor, sending up choking dust. Anna groped blindly around in the dark. Another bolt of lightning streaked the sky and briefly illuminated the room. She could clearly see a rather large hole in her wall. And in that brief moment of light, Anna could make out, just barely, the corner of what appeared to be a compartment hidden within the destroyed wall.

The lightning died and Anna was left in utter darkness. She dropped to her knees and began groping blindly at the floor. Her hands sifted through the burned remnants of the wall until they found what they were looking for. Anna laced her fingers around the candle that had caused the blazing inferno moments before. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her lighter. Once again the room was bathed in a pale flickering light. Anna cautiously made her way back to the charred wall.

Carefully she pulled away the remaining drywall. Behind the wall was a small compartment made visible by the fire. The metal cubbyhole held nothing more than a small keepsake box and an old leather book. Anna carefully removed them both being mindful of the remaining charred wall. Anna looked at the box. In the flickering light of the candle, Anna could make out a keyhole. The box was securely locked. Setting the box aside, Anna picked up the small leather book. The book was old and beaten, and there was an old oxidized lock on the front. Anna fiddled with the latch and the rusted metal snapped easily in her hands.

Now curious of the old book's contents, she hastily opened to the first page. She read over the yellowed title page of the book. There inside, scrawled in sloppy childish handwriting was "Property of Kathleen Malone." From what Anna could see in the dull light of her candle, the small leather book was Kathleen's diary. The room was too poorly illuminated for Anna to distinguish many of the words on the countless pages of the journal.

The storm raged on outside. A sudden roll of thunder startled Anna. She glanced at her candle. Now well used, the candle had melted down leaving trails of wax down its sides. Anna sighed. No longer having any source of light, she couldn't begin scouring the pages of the book. She would have to wait until tomorrow. It was late and the power had yet to come back on. Anna tried her best to find her way to her bed.

Hours passed and Anna had yet to fall into a deep sleep. The contents of the leather book haunted her. She wanted nothing more than to see what mysteries the aged diary held. For hours she lay there staring at the ceiling. She watched the eerie light of the lighthouse flicker through her window.

"One, Two, Pause, Reverse, Two, Three." She counted aloud. Anna rolled over and threw the pillow over her head. She still couldn't sleep. Anna rolled over once again and made a blind swipe for her lighter on the nearby nightstand. She flicked open her lighter and discovered a candle that looked almost as old and yellowed as the house tucked within the remnants of the charred wall. She flipped open the book and strained her blue eyes to read Kathleen's messy handwriting. The dim light still proved to be a barrier for her. Anna ran her hand over one of the yellowed pages.

In a sudden flash, Anna was standing in front of the Malone Manor. It was 1940, and a family stood together posing in front of their house. A young girl chased her dog around the yard while her mother yelled at her.

"Kathleen! Kathleen dear! Come and stand for this photo!" a women yelled. Anna assumed it to be Mrs. Malone.

"Mommy do I have to?" The young Kathleen called back. She continued to chase her dog around the front yard and Mrs. Malone sighed.

Anna flashed back to the present. From a young age, Anna was able to vividly see the past so long as it was triggered by something. When she viewed the past, it was almost as if a window had opened in time. She couldn't be seen or heard, but she was there. She was an observer in this state; nothing more, nothing less.

Anna traced her fingers over another page. The page must have been about a Malone family Thanksgiving because once again Anna was transported back to the past.

Kathleen and Mr. and Mrs. Malone sat at the table saying grace with whom Anna assumed to be family and friends. The table was set with some of the most exquisite china Anna had ever seen. Each plate had ample food on it, and yet the plethora of food on the table looked untouched. The family laughed and joked as they ate their Thanksgiving feast. The family dog waited anxiously at Kathleen's feet just below the table.

Anna flashed back to the present time. Her candle flickered in the ever present darkness. She was utterly confused. She had heard rumors of the Malone family, and she couldn't believe that something so strange could happen to this family. The Malone's were said to have disappeared one day out of the blue. The police were sent in to investigate when the payments stopped on the house. The house looked as if the Malone's vanished into thin air; the dishes were left in the sink, the beds unmade, the lights still on. Kathleen Malone was found in the library of the house. When the policemen asked her what had happened, she refused to talk. She was hospitalized the moment she was removed from the house and eventually institutionalized.

Anna's mind became plagued with thoughts about the Malones and their mysterious disappearance. As her mind became more and more bogged down with theories of the disappearance, Anna was drawn back to the old diary. Anna saw that several weeks before the disappearance, Kathleen had become obsessed with the local legends. According to Kathleen, the local area had become known as somewhat of a devil's triangle. There were many accounts of strange disappearances from passing ships. To Anna, Kathleen's obsession became nearly maniacal. Anna began to wonder if Kathleen could have been responsible for the disappearance of her family.

It was getting late, and Anna struggled to keep her eyes open. Sleep was closing in. She rolled over and blew out the candle and before her head hit the pillow, Anna was asleep.

Anna stirred as the morning sun danced through her window. She squinted as she tried to block the unwelcome rays from her eyes. After last night's events, she had only a few hours of much needed sleep. She groaned as she rolled out of bed. She glanced at the mirror on her vanity. Her hair and clothing were disheveled and her eyes were heavy laden with purple bags. She sighed and made her way to the bathroom.

After splashing her face with cold water and running a brush through her hair, Anna made her way toward the kitchen. She walked down the stairs, entered the kitchen, and turned on her coffee pot. The electricity seemed to have come back on sometime last night. Anna sat down at her kitchen table and laid her head on the cold surface until she heard the shrill beeping of the coffee pot telling her the coffee was ready. Anna haphazardly poured herself a cup while she directed her attention to the bay window. She surveyed the harbor. The waters seemed to be less agitated with the cliffs today as the waves did not continually assault them. The winds had died down and the brilliant colors that the sun had cast into the sky were beginning to fade.

"Ah!" Anna cried as her coffee overflowed, burnt her hand, and flowed down the counter top. Anna quickly moved to the sink to run cold water over her blistering hand. As she nursed her throbbing hand, Anna again glanced out the window. Her eyes came to rest on her neighbor's house.

"That's it!" she exclaimed. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before," she said as she moved to get a mop. After quickly mopping up the spilled coffee, Anna ran up the stairs to get dressed. She glanced at the clock as she pulled on her jeans.

"Ten o'clock. They should be awake," she said as she finished dressing. "I should have thought to ask them earlier," she reprimanded herself as she grabbed her coat off the rack near the door. Anna had come to think of her neighbors, the Michealsons, as her own family. Tim and Nancy reminded her very much of her dearly departed grandparents and many times acted as such. She knew that the Michealsons had moved into the area two years before the Malone Manor was built and was sure that they would help her shed a little better light on the Malones's disappearance.

As she walked up to the Michealsons's house, she was shocked to not hear Moxi, the Michealson's black lab puppy, barking. Anna walked onto the porch and saw that the newspaper hadn't been collected in a few days. Anna began to wonder if they had taken a hiatus. She knocked on the door, but it was to no avail. No one was home. Slightly disappointed, Anna returned to her car. As drove down the Michealson's driveway, an old black dog limped its way across the yard. Anna stopped her car to call the dog, but when she exited the dog coward and ran into the woods.

"Strange, that stray had a collar just like Moxi's," she said to herself as she got back into her car. She sighed out of frustration. She glanced out her rear view mirror just in time to see a strange shadow disappear into the woods. Anna couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched. As she drove, Anna once again found her mind returning to the unusual disappearance of the Malones. Anna's heart felt heavy as she entered the house. She threw her keys on the nearby table and made her way up the stairs and into her room. She collapsed face first into bed. She released another long sigh of frustration. She ran over the details over and over again in her mind.

"How did Kathleen survive," Anna asked herself. "She must have done something." Anna sprang up from her bed. Once again reprimanding herself for not thoroughly thinking things through, Anna sat down at her desk and opened her laptop.

"Kathleen Malone," she said aloud as she typed the name into the search engine. After reading several articles, Anna arrived at the realization that Kathleen had passed away a few weeks ago, and any hopes she had of talking to her were thoroughly dashed. Anna sighed, something she had been doing a lot of lately.

"Is there any reason to continue reading," she mused aloud. "Surely there must be something else." Anna continued scouring the Internet for something, anything, that would illuminate the reason for the disappearance of the Malone family. Hours had passed and Anna had yet to come up with anything useful. She idly munched on her lunch as she continued her search. Many articles were written about the disappearance, but they all contained the same information. Several of the articles mentioned that Kathleen's only words after the incident were "Stay away from the light!" Anna was sure this minor detail was useless and just a result of a traumatic event. She groaned.

"Why is this so hard to figure out?" she said out of frustration as she threw herself onto her bed. She groaned heavily into her pillows. She lay in silence for a while. Her theories of the disappearance seemed to become more and more unrealistic as the day went on. She glanced at the clock. Four o'clock. It would be dark in a matter of hours. She had spent the majority of the day entertaining the thought of actually discovering the true cause of the mystery.

Anna peeled herself off the bed and surveyed her room. Empty plates lay scattered around her desk, the bed was unmade, clothes were hung over the full size mirror, the old diary lay open on the floor, and wax from the old yellowed candle had hardened onto the nightstand. Anna grimaced. Her room was filthy. In her dejected mood, Anna rolled over and began to absent-mindedly picked the wax from her nightstand. As she did this, she noticed something protruding from the candle. She was sure this wasn't there when she first lit the candle. Upon further inspection, Anna noted that the item was only made visible by the use of the candle. The item was hidden within the wax.

Anna picked at the remaining wax that hid the object. Underneath the layers of wax was an old key. As soon as Anna's fingers grazed the key, her power to visit events in history opened a window to the past.

Anna could see the youngest Malone. Kathleen was shaking as she sobbed. The tears streaming down her face hindered her from completing her task. Kathleen struggled to pull the key from a box as each sob shook her hands.

Anna returned back to the present. She had not seen what was in the box, but she was sure that Kathleen had something important hidden inside. Anna had an uneasy feeling as she watched Kathleen and was sure she had seen Kathleen moments after the incident had occurred.

Anna was frightened. She had in her possession the box that she was sure held all of the secrets of the Malone's disappearance. Did she want to open the box? What would she find? Was Kathleen responsible for Mr. and Mrs. Malones's disappearance? Did Kathleen murder them? A thousand questions ran through Anna's mind as she set the keepsake box on her bed.

She struggled to slide the key into the key hole. She was shaking. After taking several deep breaths, Anna opened the lid of the box. Inside were photographs and an old tape recorder. Nervously Anna hit play on the tape recorder.

"This is Kathleen Malone. I am recording this so that no one else gets hurt. My parents won't believe me, but I have seen things. The shipwrecks in the harbor were all caused by him. The mysterious disappearances were all his doing. This man is dangerous and needs to be stopped. I can't go to the police, that's when he gets them. He gets anyone who knows too much. I am recording this in hopes that someone will find this and stop this man. This man is evil. He lives forever. The name of this man is... No! Stop! Wait! Stay away from the light! No! He got us! He knows! Ah! Mom! Dad! Stay away from the light! Ah! No! He is the man in the lighthouse!" The screaming continued and Anna rushed to shut off the tape recorder. As she touched the tape recorder she was transported back to the past.

Anna could see Kathleen sitting off in the corner of the library with her tape recorder. Her parents were on the other side reading. The light from the lighthouse continued its path around the track, no wait, this time it was different. The light didn't hesitate as it normally did.

"Kathleen dear, What are you doing," her mother asked her just as the light from the lighthouse came streaming through the room.

"No! Mom, Dad stay away from the light," Kathleen yelled.

"What are you talking about Kath..." her mom never finished her sentence. The light had settled on Mr. and Mrs. Malone. Right before her eyes she could see the life being sucked out of them. Kathleen screamed at the horrific sight. She cast her eyes away as her parents were reduced to nothing but gray ash.

Anna immediately returned to the present. She was horrified at what she saw. With shaking hands, Anna reached into the box and pulled out a photograph of a man standing by the lighthouse. The man wasn't posing. No, the photo was clearly taken from afar and the man wasn't aware that the photo was being taken.

Anna ran to her computer and began to search this mysterious lighthouse care taker. The records she found were from 1900 and have never been updated. There was a picture on the web page showed a young man, no more than twenty, standing in front of the lighthouse. Anna had seen this man before. Yes, in the photo in Kathleen's box. The photos were of the same man.

"How can this be?" Anna asked herself. "This man is the same age in both photographs." The photograph on the web page was a photo that dated back in 1900 while Kathleen's photo was taken in 1948. But how? Anna thought. Just then, Anna's kitten jumped onto the window sill. Moments later, the eerie light of the lighthouse came streaming through the window and rested on the kitten. Anna watched as the life was sucked out of her kitten until the it was reduced to ash. Anna was horrified. She sat at her desk stunned, unable to move.

"The...the...the...light..it...it just...sucked...the life..out of my kitten..." Anna stuttered not able to come to terms with the gruesome scene that unfolded before her very own eyes. "The disappearance! I know how the Malone's disappeared! The man from the lighthouse. He was responsible for the Malone's disappearance. Kathleen knew all along. She wasn't crazy. She knew. That's what 'stay out of the light' means!"

Slowly the light came inching towards Anna who was too frightened to move. She sat fastened to her seat. Her mind was frozen in fear as she watched the light move slowly towards her. Just then Kathleen's spirit appeared to Anna.

"Anna, Anna move! You can end this! Think, Anna, Think" Kathleen's spirit said before disappearing. Anna jerked from her seat and rolled onto the floor. She hid under her desk just as the light from the old lighthouse passed over her. Anna was unsure of what to do next, surely she couldn't stay under her desk all night.

"Okay, think Anna," she said to herself. Anna glanced out from under her desk. The deadly light wasn't rotating in its usual flawed manner, it was focused on her house. The panic was building in her chest. Without thinking, Anna bolted from underneath her desk. Her mind was still in its frozen state as her legs carried her down the stairs and out the front door. She ran wildly towards her car. The eerie light followed her every movement. Anna reached her car moments before the light did. Her hands ripped at the handle of her car only to find that the car door wouldn't open. Her car was locked and her keys in her house on the table. Anna couldn't escape. The nearest house was miles away.

Anna made up her mind in a split second. She needed to make it back inside if she hoped to survive. She hid behind her car waiting for an opening to run. She glanced up at the light only to see the silhouette of the lighthouse care taker turning the monstrous light back towards her. Anna saw her chance and took it. She dashed back into the house and sought safety in her room. Now the light seemed to be almost like a hideous serpent seeking her in every corner.

She frantically scanned the room for anything she could seek refuge behind. Having no time to think, she grabbed the full length mirror. The sudden jerk caused the numerous garments that hung over it to cascade onto the floor. Anna slid behind the mirror seconds before the luminous serpent reached her room. There was a sudden flash as the light from the lighthouse struck the mirror. The intensity of the strike caused Anna to momentarily black out.

Anna awoke from her momentary stupor. She slowly sat up. The only illumination she had was the light from the old lighthouse on the peninsula. Anna panicked. What had happened when she was passed out? What had happened to the lighthouse care taker? She hesitantly glanced out the window as the light was rounding its path. There was no threatening silhouette. There was no hesitation in the lighthouse's path. Did this mean it was over? Had she defeated the man?

Several weeks passed and there were no further peculiar disappearances. Anna's new neighbors began to move their possessions into their house, and Anna had come to terms with what had happened. The town had a new spirit about it. Seamen and travelers alike more frequently came to port, and the town was bustling. The area was no longer considered a devil's triangle, and the town's reputation was restored. As for the lighthouse care taker, Anna never truly knew what became of him. The man was never seen again. One might say he vanished into thin air.

Anna breathed in the salty sea air as she thought; the view from the lighthouse was stunning.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note

This story was written for my AP English class. The story needed several epic elements to be acceptable for the assignment. "The Lighthouse" was not originally meant to be a supernatural story. In order to be an epic, the story need a "bad guy" and a fight between "good" and "evil". In order to write this story in the time allotted and cover all of the requirements, I had to make the lighthouse have the power to take away the lives of others and transfer their "youth" to the ligthhouse keeper. The "good" character needed to have a superpower, e.g. Anna has the power to see or be transported back to the past and the lighthouse and the attendant had the power to take away youth and lives.

My friend and I came up with the general plot of a story similar to this and I tailored it to fit the requirements of my AP English assignment. The original story line had the lighthouse attendant once again being the one responsible for the disappearance, however, the disappearances were not disappearances at all. They were murders. The lighthouse attendant had been killing people in a small town in Maine for many years and was never caught. He was able to commit so many seemingly flawless murders by using the lighthouse as a beacon for his underground tunnels. These tunnels lead throughout the town allowing the man to snatch his victims up with out being seen. The hitch in the lighthouse's track was the beacon that pointed to the opening of these secret tunnels.

Leave me a comment if you want me to rewrite this story to match the original story line.


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